The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry

For reals.

Two weeks in a row I secured a babysitter and made plans to take my amazing husband on a date. And two weeks in a row, those plans were thwarted by a visit to the hospital. (Yes, I'm focusing on how it affected me because Ruby is such a rock star through it all that she makes it easy to not focus on how it affects her...because it seems to not!)

Last Saturday night (30 minutes before the sitter was to arrive) Lehr and I were changing Ruby's port dressing when I noticed a small tear in the outer layer of one of her tubes. The risk of infection is so high that it warranted an immediate trip to the ER. Lehr took her in and hung out for five hours while they cut her line and stuck a new one one. They slid a clear sleeve over the new joint and shoved some type of epoxy around the joint to stick it all together. The rest of the week was uneventful.

Last night Ruby ate a great dinner and went to bed normally. She cried out at 6AM (unusual), and when I went into her room, she had a dirty diaper. I quickly changed her and put her back down; she slept until 8AM when I woke her up for church. That was the first sign something may be wrong, because she's usually our alarm clock between 7 and 7:30. She was a little warm, but 20 minutes later, her temp was down. We opted to keep her home from church; only the big kids and I went.

Just before we got home from church, Ruby's fever started to go back up, so Lehr took her into the ER. They started her on an antibiotic and gave her some oxygen. Right around the time they arrived, Lehr said her breathing changed and got a little more labored. The doctor on-call ordered a chest x-ray too, to rule lung issues out. Her fever went even higher before it finally came down (over 104).

A few hours later, Ruby was checked into the hospital for a 48+ hour stay. That is standard protocol when Ruby's counts are low: they have to make sure no cultures grow in her blood sample for a full 48. Bad news for Ruby this time...the Aflac Unit is full, so she's staying in another area of the hospital away from her favorite nurses.

Ruby had a spike in energy around the time they got into their room, but then she got sleepy and lethargic again. She took a monster nap and then woke up for dinner. Apparently one of her go-to meals (soup) made her a little nauseous, but after a little cuddling, she had some more Zocyn and Tylenol and felt better. She destroyed some plain pasta and wouldn't stop asking for more during our Facetime with her tonight.

Lehr is staying at the hospital overnight. He said the last report is that her ANC is 80 (basically no immune system); she will have to stay in the hospital through count recovery. Praying that it is less than a week!